Newborn Rex

Although I am falling behind in documenting my boy's life, I think I am not so far behind that I can't start from the beginning. Having such a close friend as a photographer is nice because I have yet to post amateur photos. Here are some photos from when Rex was about a week old. The first week was newborn dreamland. He was sleeping a fair amount still and would just sleep on our chests. Breastfeeding was very hard for us at first, so much of my memories of his early days are dominated by that. He would take two hours to complete a feeding, and he struggled to latch and stay put. We learned fairly quickly that the poor child has a variety of food sensitivities, the main offenders being dairy and soy. My best friend Anna told me to write down everything, and I wish I would have taken this advice more seriously. I thought I would remember every moment in perfect clarity, but I have forgotten the specifics as time progresses. I did keep a small journal of things I noticed when he was two weeks old. We discovered that Rex loved classical music. He did not cry very often (probably a combined total of 30 minutes a day), but when he did cry, Colin would put on classical music and dance with him. It would put him in a trance. Rex still loves music, and whenever he is upset, we can sing to him or put on music and it will usually calm him down. I recorded that Rex made the absolute cutest noises, which I described as puppy noises and Colin described as gremlin noises. I think those are actually similar noises. Rex loved kisses at two weeks, which he still does. I make sure he gets at least 100 kisses a day and stop counting after that. I remember I would stare at him while he was asleep and tell my mom how beautiful and perfect Rex was. She agreed. I spent a lot of time doing this because I had terrible postpartum insomnia. Rex had the strongest neck from the get go. He would hold his neck up without assistance from the day we brought him home. He was also very alert and would track toys and look at us. I felt protective of him and that I didn't want many people to come over. Our first non-family guests were Blake and Olivia. We loved showing Rex off to friends who were so excited and supportive the entire pregnancy. My mom was here for almost a month, but I really needed her the two weeks she was here after Rex was born. She did all the cooking and cleaning, many night shifts, and offered the appropriate amount of doting that all grandchildren and first time mothers deserve. Next child, I will take more pictures of the simplicity of the first two weeks. This first time, the learning curve was steep, and I didn't think to take pictures of me wearing the same p.j.'s for a week. We miss "little" Rex for the cuddle factor, but no one makes us crack up like three-month-old Rex. I just can't pick my favorite Rex. They are all too perfect.